Hardwood Floors August/September 2019

AT THE SITE

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS on Wood Flooring

basement, pole building, or garage) for a length of time before the installation, the acclimation process becomes more challenging. These uncontrolled environments typically cause the wood flooring to take up moisture and increase in dimension (the change in product width is the biggest concern). This is the scenario for which you, the installer, must be wary. If you are going to install wood that has been stored in a cool or damp environment, please be sure to take the extra time and care required to acclimate properly. Manufacturers typically provide written instructions on how to acclimate their products for the best performance. The bottom line is, wood is wood, and most of those instructions say the same thing. When the manufacturer doesn't provide instruction on acclimation of their product always defer to NWFA Guidelines.

Acclimation (also called conditioning) is a critical component of the installation process, and it is the vehicle for allowingwood flooring tomatch its installation environment. Acclimation is of vital importance to a successful installation, and it warrants an in-depth discussion focused on best practices. Most solid wood flooring products are manufactured to moisture contents between 6 percent and 9 percent to closely match the interior equilibriummoisture content (EMC) of most homes in temperate regions (with HVAC operable), year round. When properly manufactured solid wood flooring is exposed to interior EMCs in the 6 percent to 9 percent range, acclimation is a short and simple process. However, when a customer stores wood in an uncontrolled environment (such as an unconditioned warehouse,

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